Digimon(2).EXE

By Wolf O'Donnell

WARNING! May contain Alternative Universe situations and out-of-character experiences. Upon reading this, you hereby agree that you forfeit all your rights to sue me and that I cannot be held liable for any psychological or physical damage caused by the fact that I use British English spelling and that this fanfic contains NO graphic depictions of a heterosexual and homosexual nature. Digimon is copyrighted by Bandai and Toei Animation Ltd. Wolf O'Donnell is copyrighted by Nintendo Ltd, although that might have nothing to do with the fanfic. Digimon(2).EXE is based on Rockman.EXE, which is copyrighted by Capcom Ltd. Constructive criticism is very welcome.

Author's Note: One of you has revealed one of my surprises in the reviews, namely the identity of the Dragon Syndicate Leader. True, the description of the Leader in Transmission 02 was a big give away, but I still don't want you spoiling surprises for newbies. (They might look at the reviews before reading my fanfic to decide whether it's worth reading or not).
So, please do not give away secrets and surprises in your reviews. Thank you.

* * * * *

Transmission 06: Himawari

Three beams of light struck the floor and in their place appeared Dobermon, Guilmon and Terriermon. Dobermon looked like a gigantic doberman and Terriermon looked like some kind of long-eared rabbit plush toy with patches of green in his cream fur. These three stood in the hospital network, which consisted of terminals that looked like metallic trays and paths that looked like scalpels, all of which floated in a sky that looked like screensaver of red crosses.
"Hey, look over there!" exclaimed Terriermon, as he pointed to a path in the distance. "It looks as if grass is growing all over that path."
Dobermon could also see it.
"Perhaps that's why the network's acting up," he suggested in a growling voice. "We should split up and check the place out."
"That's not a good idea," protested Jenrya's voice. "You should stick together, just in case something bad happens."
Terriermon laughed at Jenrya's suggestion. Something bad happen to him? Not likely.
"Yeah, like what?" he asked with a chuckle. Suddenly, he raised his ears. He thought he heard something. "What the Heck is that?" he wondered out loud, before he was suddenly bowled over by a virus. "Ah, get it off of me!"
Guilmon rushed towards the virus and swept it off of Terriermon with a claw. He saw it clearly. The thing looked a light green sphere with two stubby arms and a small sapling growing out of its head. This was a WoodGoblin.2413 virus. A smile spread across his lips. He could easily deal with a wood-style virus, what with him being a fire-style Digimon. He inhaled sharply and spat out a sphere of fire at the virus. Seconds later, it was deleted.
"Hey, we got a WoodGoblin1 DMD!" exclaimed Takato happily.
"This is not the time to be boasting about the DMDs you managed to get," chided Jenrya.
"He's right," agreed Terriermon, who was embarrassed about having to be saved by such an easy-to-defeat virus. "If there's viruses in the network, then something's very wrong. There aren't supposed to be viruses in a hospital computer network. That's just plain dangerous. What if it got into a life support system?"
It was agreed then. The three Digimon ran along the path in the hope of getting to the bottom of the situation. Suddenly, grass grew underneath their feet and the path became covered in the stuff.
"What's going on?"
"Unauthorised Digimon in network," announced a feminine voice. "Activate NetGuard1. Copyrighted 176PA ShibuCorp."
A huge sunflower suddenly sprouted up from the ground. Its stem curled round like some snake and the Digimon noticed that coiled up within its vines was a white object, which had stubby arms and large eyes. The sunflower bent over and began spitting out sunflower seeds at them.
Guilmon dived out of the way, as the seeds smashed into the ground. They seemed like bullets, as they flew through the air.
"This is bad," he exclaimed. He inhaled sharply and he could feel the fire within him begin to build up. "Pyro Sphere!" He spat out a sphere of pure fire that hit the NetGuard1 Program.
Dobermon rushed at it and tore away at the thing with his teeth. Terriermon spun round and created a tornado of green leaves around himself, before he leapt through the air, executing his Terrier Tornado attack. The NetGuard1 fell and the white Program fell to the ground.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the white object in a child-like voice. It was small, white and had stubby little arms and legs. Its ears were frilled with purple edges, like the tips of its feet. The thing had large eyes and on its forehead was a red triangle surrounded by three smaller, black triangles to form some kind of six-pointed star– the Symbol of the Officials. "That hurt," said the white object, which happened to be a Program.
"What happened?" asked Terriermon.
The Program leapt off of the floor and floated in the air.
"The NetGuards suddenly attacking us for no reason," replied the Program miserably. "Someone's probably reprogrammed them, otherwise they wouldn't have attacked us like that."
"Terriermon, ask him where you can find a place to reprogram the NetGuards," stated Jenrya.
The small bunny-like Digimon nodded in acknowledgement.
"Okay, Jen," he agreed. "Say, do you know where we can reprogram the NetGuards?" he asked the Program. "We're here to help fix the network, so if you could tell us..."
"Go to HospNet Area 3," stated the Program. "The Hospital Director's Digimon is always there. Perhaps he can help."
"Thanks," thanked Guilmon. "Come on, let's go!"
"Hey, wait up!" cried Terriermon, before he leapt on to Dobermon's back and rode the larger Digimon across the paths of the network and after Guilmon.
The white Program waved after them, a weak smile on his face. He shuddered.
"Ooh, I don't feel so good all of a sudden," he murmured with a shiver, as green circuit-like patterns suddenly started to appear like blotches all over his skin. He dropped down on to the path with a bounce and then remained there, shivering.

* * * * *

Alice had heard what the Program said about the Hospital Director. She quickly handed Jenrya her D-Tector.
"Jen, Takato, I'm going to see the Hospital Director about this," she told them. There was a slightly worried look on her face and it was clear to the other two Operators that she knew something they didn't. "I've got to speak to him about the lockdown. Jenrya, please look after Dobermon for me while I'm gone."
"Alice, you know something, don't you?" Jenrya asked her.
"Jen, not now," stated Alice sternly, before she ran off.
Takato watched Alice ran down the corridor.
"What's up with her?" he wondered out loud. He had never known her to be like that. Takato had never known Alice to be so abrupt. He turned to face the computer screen and see what progress Guilmon had made. "All right, they're in HopsNet Area 2! Good going, guys!"

* * * * *

Guilmon skidded to a halt and then suddenly found himself stuck. Oh, he hated the viruses that activated Battle Arenas. He looked around him and found himself standing in an grid-like area of three by three tiles. Each tile had a red edge to it. He looked towards the virus, which was in a three by three area of blue-edged tiles right next to his area. This was definitely a Battle Arena all right.
"Oh, I hate those types of viruses!" cried Takato. "Don't you worry, Guilmon, I've got some Modify Chips ready to use!"
"That's okay, I can take care of this Weed.3263 Virus," stated Guilmon. The virus in front of him looked like a Venus Fly Trap with a pink head. He inhaled sharply and spat out a sphere of fire at the virus, roasting it in an instant. "Gotcha!" he exclaimed triumphantly and the Battle Arena suddenly disappeared. He rushed forward and then claimed the data the virus left behind for himself.
"Way to go, Guilmon!" cheered on Terriermon, as he leapt off of Dobermon and rushed towards the Digimon. He suddenly skidded to a halt, a horrified expression plastered on his face. "Look out!" he screamed, as another NetGuard rose up from the ground.
This one looked exaclty like the previous one, but the petals of its sunflower-like head were blue instead of yellow. The head began rotating and suddenly seeds spat out like bullets from a machine gun. Each seed tore at the ground viciously, burrowing into it and throwing up debris from the paths.
Terriermon leapt off of Dobermon's back and spun round in the air, creating a whirlwind around himself. He flew through the air like some kind of spinning missile and smacked straight into the NetGuard program. The sunflower-like head of the program was suddenly flung back and the stream of seeds it spat curved skywards.
"That'll teach you to mess with me!" he laughed, as he landed back on the path. "Bunny Blast!" He inhaled and then spat out a stream of bright green plasma spheres, each one hitting the stem of the NetGuard Program.
That was when Guilmon took into action. He leapt up at the NetGuard and slashed at it with his claws. He managed to tear into the stem, but it seemed to be too thick. Guilmon tried again, only for a root to tear out of the ground and whip at him. It coiled around him like a snake and began squeezing the air out of his digital, scaly body.
"Takato, somebody, help!" he cried out to his Operator.
"I'm coming!" called out Dobermon, as he leapt into action. He lunged at the root and grabbed it, growling ferally as he bit into the root and tore at it.
"Oh, no, it doesn't look as if they're going to make it," cried Takato.
"Well, they will do," stated Jenrya confidentally. "Dobermon, I'm going to send you an DMD! DigiModify- Hyper Strength Activate!"
Every sinewy muscle within Dobermon's body seemed to bulge. He could feel a new power wash over him. Strength was his new ally and he tore at the NetGuard Program with a fervour never seen before. With one final tug at the root, he managed to tear Guilmon free.
"There," he said, "you're free now."
"Thanks, Dobermon," thanked Guilmon gratefully. He looked up and saw the NetGuard's head lower back down. "Watch out!" he cried, as he dived for Dobermon and pushed him out of the way, just as a stream of the NetGuard's seed-like projectiles struck the path. He looked behind him.
"Phew, that was too close," sighed Dobermon. "Thanks, Guilmon."
"It's not over yet," growled Guilmon, as he got up to his feet.
"I've got it!" exclaimed Takato in sudden realisation. It was one of those 'Eureka' moments that hits people every now and then. "Guilmon, leap at the NetGuard program and do a spinning jump. Slash at it with your claws in mid-air. I'll give you a boost. DigiModify– Hyper Speed activate!"
A surge of speed hit Guilmon. For him, everything seemed to slow down. He ran for it and leap into the air and spun like Terriermon would. He spread his arms out wide, as he spun and his sharp claws cut through the NetGuard's stem like rotor blades, severing it in half. He landed back down on the ground gracefully and looked up to see the NetGuard throbbing like a vein, before it broke up into tiny bits of digital data.
Guilmon smiled.
"That takes care of that," he said, dusting his paws off. "So, anybody got any ideas as to where to go from here?" He suddenly shivered. "Brr... Is it just me or is it getting really cold here?" he asked the others. He began hugging himself, as he shivered. "Guys?" He turned round and saw that the others were also shivering. Why? They had fur. He didn't understand.
"Terriermon, what's wrong?" asked Jenrya worriedly.
The small, furry Digimon was shivering just like Guilmon. It seemed, however, that he was suffering more than the fire-style Digimon and Dobermon put together.
"I'm so cold," he said through chattering teeth. "Why is it so...?" He couldn't finish his sentence before he descended into a powerful sneezing fit. It seemed as if he would sneeze his head off.
"Something's not quite right," said Takato, who noticed that Dobermon was suffering as well. "They've been infected!" cried Takato, upon the sudden realisation of what was happening.
"Darkspore," muttered Jenrya, upon seeing green patterns appear all over Terriermon's fur. "We've got to get them to a DigiHospital and quick."
"There's no time," protested Takato. "Guilmon, go and see if you can find the Hospital Director's Digimon!"
"Are you nuts? He'll get the Director's Digimon infected as well!" argued Jenrya.
Guilmon's shivering was getting too much for him. He wanted to stop shivering, but he felt too cold for that. Yet for some strange reason, it seemed that the virus was having no effect on him. Was it because he was a fire-style Digimon? Yes, he had heard of the fact that the virus didn't seem to infect fire-style Digimon. Perhaps his body was dealing with it in some way. The Digimon suddenly collapsed to his knees. He felt weak from the virus. It was sapping his strength and it didn't seem as if there was anything that he could do. Perhaps he was wrong.
"Takato, it was nice knowing you," wheezed Guilmon weakly. Green patches appeared all over his skin and he could himself degrading. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see saplings growing from the heads of his digital friends.
"No, it can't end like this!" cried Takato in disbelief. "Guilmon!"
An evil laugh suddenly echoed all around them. A data stream struck the floor in front of them and deposited a Digimon in front of them. This Digimon looked like a gigantic cactus with eyeholes and a mouthole cut out in its front and two boxing gloves for hands.
"So, it looks like the poor Juggernaut Destroyers are all sick," taunted the cactus-like Digimon. "Too bad."
"Who are you?" stuttered Terriermon through chattering teeth.
"I am Togemon, one of the Dragon Syndicate's best Digimon Agents," announced the cactus-shaped Digimon proudly. "His Excellency, the Leader of the Dragon Syndicate, has ordered me to terminate you. You brats are getting in the Syndicate's way of total world domination."
Guilmon growled and snarled angrily at Togemon, yet because of the virus, a kitten's mew would have sounded more threatening.
"Is that so?" coughed Terriermon. "Well..." He couldn't say anymore. The virus was taking its toll on him.
"Terriermon!" cried Guilmon in horror, as he saw the furry Digimon fall flat on his front. He turned round to face Togemon. "You did this, didn't you?" he asked the cactus-shaped Digimon. "You're the one that infected the network." He heard another thud and turned round to see Dobermon flat against the floor.
Togemon frowned, her prickly eyebrows moving together like two hedgehogs fighting for their territory.
"Say, you're a fire-style Digimon, aren't you?" asked Togemon curiously. "Yes, you are. I thought so. You're lucky. Your body can handle the virus and possibly even destroy it. Your friends, however..."
"Takato, I've got an idea!" exclaimed Jenrya. "If you can send Guilmon to my Dad via e-mail, he could create some kind of cure for the Darkspore virus."
"I'm sorry, but I won't let you do that!" cried Togemon, as she rushed forward and flung a gloved fist straight at Guilmon. Her red glove hit the Digimon underneath the scaly chin and sent him flying backwards. "I don't want to do this, but you've left me no choice. You must be taken care of or His Excellency's wrath will harm my Operator! Needle Spray!" She fired several cactus needles straight at the fire-style Digimon.
The Darkspore virus was affecting Guilmon more than the Digimon would let on. It had slowed his reactions and made him weak. Even though the needles, being a wood-style attack, would only do half their normal damage, they still hurt. A wince covered his scaly face, as he staggered back from Togemon. His thoughts turned to his digital friends and how they would die if he couldn't get to Jenrya's Dad.
Togemon raised her arms up into the air.
"Battle Arena activate!" she announced and a beam of light struck down around them. The path was suddenly divided up into a red and blue section, each section consisting of nine tiles arranged in a three by three fashion.
The rules of fighting in a Battle Arena were simple. Each section belongs to a certain Digimon and a Digimon cannot stray off that section. Guilmon, being on the red section, couldn't step on to a blue tile and Togemon, being on a blue section, couldn't step on to a red tile. Digimon were, however, allowed to jump, fly or teleport into another Digimon's section.
Now there was no getting away. Guilmon would have to fight and win, if he was to be e-mailed anywhere. He just hoped that Takato had suitable DigiModify Chips loaded into the D-Tector. This fight would need to be incredibly short and that meant he would have to use all the skill he had.
"Are you ready yet?" asked Togemon.
"Hold on, I'm sending you the DMDs right now," announced Takato.
Mentally, Guilmon looked at the selection ahead of him. There wasn't much in the way of fire-style DMDs there. It was rather slim as well.
"Okay, I'm ready," he told Togemon with a nod of his head. He waited, his muscles tensed. Guilmon saw Togemon punch thin-air and then saw a large red glove hurtle away from Togemon and straight towards him. He couldn't move out of the way in time and was knocked backwards.
"Guilmon, no!"

To be continued...